Java 9 will introduce a modularized JDK, which means developers will be able to load smaller amounts of code when running applications that donít require the entire environment. This will enable Java to scale from small devices to large software systems while providing a secure platform.

Language changes to help increase developer productivity and simplify common programming tasks by reducing the amount of code needed, clarifying syntax and making code easier to read. (JSR 334: Project Coin)

A new multicore-ready API that enables developers to more easily decompose problems into tasks that can then be executed in parallel across arbitrary numbers of processor cores. (JSR 166: Fork/Join Framework)

A comprehensive I/O interface for working with file systems that can access a wider array of file attributes and offer more information when errors occur. (JSR 203: NIO.2)

New networking and security features

Expanded support for internationalization, including Unicode 6.0 support

It's time to start thinking about planning JDK 8. We already know what some of the big-ticket items are likely to be. There'll be room for other features too, however, both large and small. It's therefore time to define a simple process for collecting, sorting, reviewing, and prioritizing proposals and plans for new features, for JDK 8 and for later releases.

The JDK 7 project has reached Feature Complete (FC). This means that development and QA have finished all planned feature and test development work in the release and are moving the focus to testing and bug fixing on all supported JDK 7 platforms. This is a major step towards JDK 7 General Availability (GA) and implies that we are tracking close to the plan published on openjdk.java.net.